After Kalyan pact,SP gets into damage-control mode

Waking up to the potential loss of its minority support base after SP chief Mulayam Singh’s pact with Kalyan Singh,SP has begun its damage-control exercise by wooing the opinion makers from the minority community.

In the first of such exercises on Monday,SP general secretary Amar Singh along with SP MPs Jaya Prada and Jaya Bachchan interacted with teachers from the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) at Singh’s residence to elicit their support for the forthcoming elections. Much to the party’s relief,the over two dozen intellectuals from AMU came out in support of SP,describing Mulayam Singh as the “embodiment of secularism.”

The SP also struck a conciliatory note towards party leader Azam Khan,who had publicly voiced his unease in the wake of the Mulayam-Kalyan pact. “If our senior leader Azam Khan saheb decides to contest the forthcoming elections from Rampur,I will happily withdraw my candidature,” Jaya Prada,who represents Rampur,said.